18th annual Kennett Brewfest is on tap for Oct. 10

Tickets are still available for the
Kennett Brewfest, which features tastings next month from more than
110 craft breweries.

“These are the most brewers we’ve
ever had,” said Brewfest founder Jeff Norman.

The
annual event, now in its 18th year, will be held Saturday, Oct. 10
from 2 to 6 p.m. It is located at 600 S. Broad St. in Kennett Square
and benefits Historic Kennett Square (HKS), a Main Street
organization that oversees and guides revitalization in and marketing
of the borough.

“The festival has grown along with
the craft beer movement,” said Mary Hutchins Executive Director of
HKS.

Eighteen years ago, Scott Hammond had
opened the Half Moon Restaurant and Saloon in the borough and was
serving craft beers – a novelty at a time when name-brand brews
ruled the market. Hammond and Norman and others created the Brewfest
as a way to raise money for HKS’ predecessor, the Kennett Square
Revitalization Task Force, according to Norman.

It was held during the borough’s
annual Mushroom Festival, but quickly grew and was made its own
event. Nine years ago it moved to the Genesis property on South Broad
Street, where it has remained. These days, the borough which hosts
the Brewfest is home to two brew pubs and a craft beer store, and the
call for craft beers has never been bigger.

According to Norman, that is thanks in
part to wholesale beer distributors, which make it possible for
Brewfest organizers to include beers sold elsewhere in the nation.

“The wholesaling thing is how we
really got to expand,” he said. “With the growth of the whole
craft beer industry … we had to start going through wholesale.”

Local representatives of craft
breweries throughout the nation then offer samples of their beers at
the Brewfest, he said.

As it has grown, the Brewfest has
become a reunion of sorts for those who attend year after year.

“I enjoy seeing the
multi-generational nature of the event, some years there are families
with three generations. Seeing the same happy ticket buyers year
after year. The same is true of the wonderful, hardworking brewfest
volunteers,” Hutchins said.

This year the Brewfest offers more
breweries than ever before and a chance to taste the beverages of
some of the top craft breweries in the nation, including Anchor
Brewing of San Francisco; Ballast Point; Bell’s Brewing; Flying Dog
Brewery of Frederick, Md.; and, of course, Victory Brewing Co., which
opened a second brew pub location in Kennett Square.

“Our beer list is usually just
superior to other fests,” said Norman, a self-proclaimed craft beer
enthusiast.

The Brewfest also sells a connoisseur
experience for $75, but those tickets sold out in a few minutes,
Norman said. Connoisseur ticketholders arrive before the doors open
to the public, try specialty beers available just for them, and
sample food from Talula’s.

Also at this year’s connoisseur event
will be a judging of the best craft beer. Pillar Real Estate Advisors
sponsors that award and will allow ticket holders to vote in real
time using a specialty phone application, Norman said. The winner
will be announced before the connoisseur session ends.

Proceeds from the annual Brewfest
benefit Historic Kennett Square and comprise a large part of its
annual operating budget, according to Hutchins. Those funds then
allow HKS to “put on other event programming like the Third
Thursdays as well as providing the budget for marketing the
downtown.”

Historic Kennett Square also holds the
annual Kennett Winterfest, now in its fourth year. It is usually held
outdoors in February and is reminiscent of what the Brewfest was like
in its early years, Norman said.

For more information about the Brewfest
or to purchase tickets, call 610-444-8188 or go online at
www.kennettbrewfest.com.